Weeknight Meal: Stuffed Bell Peppers

NEW favorite! And it's not even a slow cooker meal (shocking).

It's been a while since I've made stuffed peppers and it is such an easy, well-rounded, delicious dish -- it's kind of the perfect weeknight meal. So I made them last night and here's how it went down:

Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 - 4 medium bell peppers, depending on size and whether you want meat leftovers for a night 2 creation.

1 lb ground beef

1/2 c black beans, drained

1/2 c chunky salsa

1 packet taco seasoning

3 Tbsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp curry powder

1-2 c of some sort of minute rice or packet quinoa (or the like). I used Trader Joe's 3-minute brown rice. 

1 cup shredded cheese (I used Beecher's "Just Jack")

Slice the top off your pepper and de-seed. Rinse it well. Slice into two halves. Pop the stem out of the top and chop that little bit of pepper to use in your meat mixture (waste not!). 

Brown the ground beef, drain. Then add everything but the cheese. Toss in your extra pepper chunks. Cook the rice and add that in too. Let everything simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Put your pretty peppers in a pan and fill them up with your meat mixture. Bake in the oven, covered, on 375 for 45 minutes or until peppers are desired tenderness. Sprinkle with cheese during last 5 minutes of baking. Devour.

Now, here's the thing: You'll notice as you keep adding to your meat mixture that it gets to be quite a lot, probably more than you need for your peppers. So I would say it fills 6-8 pepper halves, if you have a few more mouths to feed than me. I had 4 pepper halves and then plenty of leftover meat mixture that I'm sure tonight we'll be adding sour cream and making burritos for dinner. Bam! Another 2-in-1 meal just like that. Also, you can break this operation into two parts. Make the meat mixture early on and stuff the peppers, put them in the fridge. Wait for the fam to get home in the evening and then pop them in the oven to bake. Easy enough, right?

{Weeknight Meals} Herbed Balsamic Chicken with Blue Cheese

My mom passed this recipe on to me raving about how good and easy it is. I put it to the test last night ... I worked, and then was home alone with 14 week old Graham (Curtis is traveling for work) and this dinner was quick, easy and doable! Oh and very good! I scaled the recipe down and just made one chicken breast, but wish I would have cooked a few so I'd have leftovers for lunch this week.

Full disclosure:
1.) I was so hungry while I was getting this together that I ate a cookie to hold me over. It was really good, so I ate one more.
2.) The baby did cry once or twice and I had to stop and pick him up. Apparently my cooking lessons aren't that exciting.
3.) I didn't marinate the chicken for two hours like the recipe suggests. That would have worked only IF I had thought to do it before we took Murray dog for a walk but it sat in the good stuff for at least 30 min which seemed to do the trick.

My mom's additions were the thyme and garlic, so if you don't have either, this recipe could be even simpler. But I recommend growing thyme in your yard. It comes back year after year and you don't have to do a thing to keep it going. Easiest way to have fresh herbs on hand!

Herbed Balsamic Chicken with Blue Cheese

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

½ cup balsamic vinegar

Garlic

Thyme

3 T. olive oil

2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

1 ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 3- to 4- oz. wedge blue cheese, cut into 6 slices (or crumbled goat cheese)

Place chicken in zip-lock.  Whisk vinegar, 3 T. oil, 1 ½ tsp coarse salt, garlic, fresh thympe and 1 tsp. pepper in bowl.  Add to chicken.  Chill for 2 hours (or less or marinate it the night before if you're planning ahead).

Prepare BBQ…..medium-high heat.  Spray grill with cooking spray.  Grill chicken until cooked through, about 6 min. per side.  Transfer to plates and top with cheese.

I served the chicken sliced over a salad, but it would also be delicious as a burger or sandwich or plain with a side of grilled asparagus! 

And here are today's pictures of Graham playing with his awesome nanny, Lisa. It's hard work following a toy learning to hold that big, adorable head up! 

 

May Food Theme: Weeknight (Madness) Meals

Who's feeling extremely overwhelmed lately? Anyone? 

Yeah, I thought so.

I was telling Amber recently how I feel like life just pulled out a can of whoop-ass on all of us. When life gets crazy, it's nice to have those go-to dinners because something should be easy in your day. So May is all about ease, the go-to weeknight dinners that are quickly prepared and taste grubbin'. 

I know my busy Beauties can whip up some awesome meals to help our chao-, I mean cause...

Perfect example:

French Bread Pizza: Slice a loaf of French bread in half and use pizza toppings to make a quick, better-than-pizza pizza. (Don't overdo the tomato/pizza sauce or it'll get soggy.) Bake 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted well. Or, if it's a nice spring day and you want to fire up the grill, place your pizza on foil on a medium-heat grill till heated through. Serve with something green and call it dinner.